John Moores Hates His Wife More Than Padre Fans

At this point, there’s not much left to say about the 2008 Padres. Last night’s humiliation by the Brewers was not in the least bit surprising. Hope is gone. Dreams are shattered. This season at Petco is shot to shit. In a few months, the Padres will (hopefully) let go of $30 million worth of contracts in Brian Giles, Greg Maddux, and Trevor Hoffman. This means that Kevin Towers will have that much money to spend to complement Adrian Gonzalez & Jake Peavy – two players the team can build around.

Wait. No. No, that’s actually not what that means.

Because, last week, it was reported across the interweb that this year’s $73 million payroll will be slashed to $40 million in ’09; partly because John Moores falls into the 50% of Americans who can’t make a marriage work, even after 45 years of being married to the missus. A lower payroll means a lower net worth for the team means a lower amount for his wife. If true, it’s pretty genius on his part. However, Moores failed marriage doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

If they really want to rebuild through cutting payroll and playing a year or two without any veteran contracts… well then they need to actually cut payroll and play a year or two without any veteran contracts.

This means dumping Khalil Greene’s $7 million on any team that will take him. Throw in a prospect if it convinces the team to pay his bloated salary.

This team philosophy would also mean declining Brian Giles’ $9 million option. If he had a competitive bone in his body, he’d be in Boston right now. Instead, he’s missing out on his chance for a ring, so that he doesn’t miss two months of his daughters’ lives. You’re 37, Brian. And you hate baseball.

Jake Peavy’s not getting traded, but if trading Adrian Gonzalez can bring us a package that rivals what the Rangers got for Mark Teixeira last year, than you have to do it. I can imagine the Indians and Mariners offering a truckload of super-prospects for Adrian and what could be his 40 HR/125 RBI 2008 season.

Lastly, this also means selling the team. John Moores has successfully given us a ballpark that floods surrounding construction for his development company. Mission accomplished. Now, please give us an owner willing to dig deep into his pockets. An owner that would have given us Vladimir Guerrero as a side-dish to giving us Petco Park in 2004.

Selling after ’09 would be ideal, but after ’10 would be acceptable, too. Sell the team, John. Wait a little bit if it helps keep money out of your soon-to-be ex-wife’s pockets. But, please, sell this team…

…to Mark Cuban…

…after his bid for the Cubs falls through…

…please…

…that would be awesome.

Most Sincerely,
Josh